Coastal complexity of the Antarctic continent

The Antarctic outer coastal margin (i.e., the coastline itself, or the terminus/front of ice shelves, whichever is adjacent to the ocean) is the key interface between the marine and terrestrial environments. Its physical configuration (including both length scale of variation and orientation/aspect) has direct bearing on several closely associated cryospheric, biological, oceanographical and ecological processes, yet no study has quantified the coastal complexity or orientation of Antarctica’s coastal margin. This first-of-a-kind characterisation of Antarctic coastal complexity aims to address this knowledge gap. We quantify and investigate the physical configuration and complexity of Antarctica’s circumpolar outer coastal margin using a novel, technique based on ~40,000 random points selected along a vector coastline derived from the MODIS Mosaic of Antarctica dataset. At each point, a complexity metric is calculated at length scales from 1 to 256 km, giving a multiscale estimate of the magnitude and direction of undulation or complexity at each point location along the entire coastline.

General description of the data
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A shapefile of ~40,000 random points selected along a vector coastline derived from the MODIS Mosaic of Antarctica dataset. At each point coastal complexity is calculated including magnitude and orientation at multiple scales and features such as bays and peninsulas identified. The structure of the dataset is as follows:

Fields Definitions
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STATION………………………Station number
EASTING………………………Easting Polar Stereographic
NORTHING……………………Northing Polar Stereographic
X_COORD…………………….X geographic coordinate
Y_COORD…………………….Y geographic coordinate
COAST_EDGE……………….Type of coast ‘Ice shelf/Ground’
*FEAT_01KM – 256KM……...Described feature ‘Bay/Peninsula’
*AMT_01KM – 256KM……….Measure of complexity, Angled Measurement Technique 0-180 degrees
*MAG_01KM – 256KM………Measure of complexity - Magnitude on dimensionless scale 0-100
*ANG_01KM – 256KM………Angle (absolute angle of station points from reference 0, 0)
*ANGR_01KM – 256KM….…Angle of ‘Magnitude’ (relative to coastline - directly offshore being 0/360°)

*Repeated for length scales 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128 and 256 kms at each point